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Saturday, January 09, 2010

The Hardest Two-Hour-a-Day Job I've Ever Had

I work a pretty hard day job, but it can't compare to the two-hour-a-day job called parenting I hold down on weekdays. The kids are in their bedrooms from 7 to 7, and at school from 8 to 6, and yet the two hours a day Amy and I interact with them leave us dog tired. Consider:

7a to 7:15a - * Get Aaron up, tidy up his room* Bring him down to Jada's room to change his diaper and put his clothes on* Help Jada tidy up her room* Throw their diapers away outside, get the morning paper* Get the two of them to the kitchen and lay out breakfast

7:15a to 7:30a - * Supervise their breakfast eating* Give them their vitamins and medicines* Put away last night's dishes* Eat breakfast while skimming through the paper* Wipe them off and throw their dishes in the sink

7:30 to 7:45a - * Make sure they're not breaking anything or hurting each other while they're playing* Clean up in the kitchen* Get ourselves ready for the day* Get coats, hats, gloves, socks, and shoes on the kids* Head out of the house

7:45a to 8:00a - * Amy drops Jada off at school and heads back home or off to errands* Lee walks Aaron to school and heads for work

6:00p to 6:15p - * Amy picks Jada up at school and gets her set up for dinner* Lee walks Aaron home from school and gets him set up for dinner

6:15p to 6:30p - * Supervise their dinner eating* Give them their vitamins and medicines* Wipe them off and throw their dishes in the sink* Make sure they're not breaking anything or hurting each other while they're playing* Clean up in the kitchen

6:30p to 6:45p - * Get them upstairs * Make them undress and go pee* Give them baths* Brush their teeth * Wipe them off and get their pajamas on

6:45p to 7:00p - * Last tidying up of toys and books* Read Bible stories and sing Bible songs* One last round of hugs and kisses* Amy brings Jada to her room, Lee brings Aaron to his room* Amy stops into Aaron's room for one more book

It's a lot, especially for two parents who are frazzled from work, school, medical/insurance hassles, endless chores, and a house that hasn't figured out how to clean itself. And yet it's only two hours a day! We're pathetic. Bring on the weekend.